God, They're Breeding!

 

Driving around Roseburg and surrounding areas, I have been able to enjoy many views. Growing up in Eugene and Springfield, I also saw sights that took my breath away and made me realize how fortunate we are. Everywhere you look, there are things to see that make the brain come alive with admiration and awe for our planet, our city, our country.  

On Wednesday I chose to admire a couple of places that I drove to for deliveries. Nature never ceases to amaze me. I took a moment out of driving and began to get a true sighting and feel for the view around me. 

One delivery took me to the top of a hill, overseeing most of Roseburg and the hills below. 

Of course, I zoomed in so I could view the base of the hill better. This makes it difficult to get a real feel for how far up I was. Believe me when I say I was high above this view of the hillside below. In fact, the hill was so high and the roads had me going up steep inclines and then down again so fast that I could not see over the dash of my car. I had to stand halfway up in the vehicle to get a better glimpse of how the road was positioned. 

The fog was creeping in to give the view a horror movie feel. I knew I needed to come down off the hillside before darkness consumed the surroundings, leaving me in a blindness when it comes to knowing where the next turn would be on this very narrow, winding road. 

I did understand that no matter how peaceful the area is, I knew for a fact I would not want to live up here. Not when you can't see the road beneath you, running alongside a steep drop off to the ground below. No, thank you. 

Once I reached the base of the hill, the energy surrounding the area changed. All of a sudden I saw a mom taking care of her little baby and the feeling of being up here changed. My heart lit up with happiness upon the sight. 

As the fawn ate, the mother made sure her baby was kept clean and happy. I drove off the hill with a great perspective of what living in the woods of Roseburg could bring. Although wilderness in Oregon also means large cats and various animals of prey. I know my daughter has enough issues with owls, cats, and even bears where she and her husband live. They have lost many chickens to who knows what and also a cat to an owl. I know it's nature but I don't want to think about it or see it. 

***

I came down the hill and drove home to this:

I will take this any day of the year. Terry and I do love our Togo, although he is getting a bit fat. Everyone else says he looks great, but I can't help but notice how his flanks have filled in and his body is just thicker. He is six years of age now. We got him at five. He just looked skinnier when we got him. 

He and I both have gained some weight. I like to blame mine on being injured for a few months and not being able to move around but we all know it's because I love Cheetos, ice cream, and even chocolate. Togo? It's because his mom is too scared to walk along the muddy walkway in the alley. When it is raining outside and the alley is covered with slick mud, the walks are short. The thought of slipping and falling in the mud again is the thing of my nightmares. 

This is how thin our baby was a couple of days after we got him. Big difference. 

***

I'm sitting in the office, waiting on a few calls to come in for deliveries, when Terry walks in to see if I would like to go to Shanti's Indian Cuisine for their buffet. Well, of course. We do love the Best Taste of India up the road but I've never eaten at Shanti's. An all you can eat buffet? I'm game. Let's go. 

Starting our meal with garlic naan, I would say, "Yum." It was so good. All of it. Mostly vegetables, but a lovely chicken dish too. Shanti's is all about the sauces! Love those sauces. Great food, nice people, and just all around awesome!

Oh, that garlic naan was crispy, warm, and a wonderful side feature to the main dishes.

Great stuff!

***

Well loyal readers, I'm off to Eugene today. Yes, by myself. My husband doesn't really want to go, which I can't blame him for that. We have made the drive far too many times to keep it interesting. I asked Mallory if she would like to come along but she was busy today with a couple of appointments. So, off I go. Me and my Soul. 

I'm on a mission to locate and retrieve our dear Sportage. Yes, for the third time, we were told it is ready to pick it up from the dealership. We got the car in 2023 and it began to have issues about a year later, at 13,000 miles. This is the third time we have sent it back to the dealership when the car stops accelerating and the dash lights up, telling us something is wrong. I can only get it to 28 miles per hour when it happens. Each time it has failed, it's three days into driving it again. The word frustration doesn't even begin to cover what we have dealt with. Each time it's gone, it's there for a month or longer. 

But today is another day. The people at the dealership tell us that this time they have actually found an issue. Apparently a faulty oil pressure switch was in the car and that caused the error lights to come on across the dash. This told the car to shut down into safety mode, hence the 28 MPH speed. Yes, hence. 

They received the part, replaced it, tested it, and now they are saying it's ready to pick up. Since this is our third time of having issues with a brand new car, we are going to be relying on the Lemon Law should the car have to go back once more. We're over it. 

So now I'm loading myself into the car I have a love-hate relationship with, to drive to Eugene and locate our baby. I cannot wait to get in it again and enjoy the ride home. 

Now, this post is not to bash Kia in any way. Lemons are found in every bunch. More in some than in others, yes. They happen. It's very frustrating however, when you are expected to deal with the crap for three months over a brand new car. I'm scared to trust it to tell the truth. On my job, I find myself up on mountain tops and driving 23 miles out and back to Myrtle Creek or wherever to deliver items to customers. I have to be able to trust my vehicle. My husband got the Sportage hybrid to save on gas too so I could deliver with very little gas. He's such a love. 

I've seen plenty of Sportages on the road and owners show their enthusiasm through comments on posts. I've heard owners speak highly of the car and the durability and reliability. I believe my man picked a very good car. The only issue we face is that during manufacturing, one faulty part was placed in the car and is just now being found amongst all of the chips and switches and modules, oh, my! At least we hope that this is the problem. If not, I guess it's new cars all around!

***

It was a nice drive to Eugene. The Soul got me there safe and sound and without incident. Kiefer Kia had moved to its new home on Auto Row in Eugene. I knew exactly where they were located when Terry told me they had moved, and drove directly to the facility. Wow! What a facility it is, too!

Being quite large, I had to do some searching for a spot to park the loaner car, without it being in the way. Finding a spot along the south side of the building, I pulled in right next to another red Soul. This made me smile and even giggle a bit. 

I walked inside and reported I was there to pick up my car and to return the loaner car, the Soul. He winced and told me that I could go ahead and take the Soul home with me. Stammering over the shock of his comment, I blurted out, "I did like the car after all but just not in this red color. Every officer in Douglas County knew I was coming and followed me or watched me." With a smile and a quick reply, he suggested that maybe the police were just wondering what the hell a Soul was doing in their county. 

Now, I'm not sure what the problem was with a Soul he had in his lifetime, but whatever it was, he was certainly not happy with them. Once again I told him I really did get used to the car but the red was just not my style. He hit a few keys and located the car. I was excited to see her again, but I have to say not quite as excited as the last time. I explored my feelings about it as he walked over to find the Sportage. Why was I not truly excited to see the Sportage?

At first I thought maybe it was because I still didn't trust it or maybe it was because I've been through this often enough to know what is going to happen? Either way, the shock was over. I was certain of that. Finally I came to the conclusion that there was a pretty strong intuition that this time the car was actually fixed. It was okay. Things were actually back to normal in the vehicle department. Or was it that I was put into our car, the black Sportage as a loaner, and then the Soul? I was maybe losing excitement of having a new car that was all ours? 

Reading the paperwork, I saw our car was showing signs of an oil leak, which sent them on an investigative journey. There, among the pooled up oil was the switch. That switch gave them an indication as to what was causing the problem the entire time. With an oil leak and faulty switch, it made the car drop into protective mode, running at 20 MPH to reduce engine problems. I also read that the car was three quarts low on oil. This freaked me out, as I had driven the car for three days to many deliveries before sending her back here. I could have blown the engine in our Sportage!

Skimming over the repairs made me realize that the car must have sprung the oil leak recently as the problem had not been located earlier. If it was dripping oil, nobody noticed a thing, included Terry and I. Watching for any fluids is a habit I made myself get into many years ago. Plus, the engine light would have eventually come on to tell me it was leaking or low on oil. I am grateful for the leak now, as it told them the switch was bad and that could be the issue we had been searching for all along. Let's hope, otherwise I will be without the use of the car once again until an attorney can get us a new car under the Lemon Law. 

Boom! The drive home was good and she ran like a dream. I'm home once more and so is she. No red. No scraping of the underbelly on steep driveways. She's ours, good or bad, and she is home, where she belongs. 

Her trip here had a couple of funny moments or at least for me. As I drove her out of the lot, I looked to the left and saw the loaner and the red Soul I had parked next to. I was grateful for the loaners Kia has been able to give me, so I did say a quick, "Thank you," to the car gods. Even in that ugly red color, that car was my good fortune, my way out to be able to do things and continue with my life while we waited for our car to return.  

I focused on the roadway leaving the Kia property, but as I came to the stop to leave the driveway, another red Soul drove in. The sight of another one really had me giggling. Off I drove, in a happy mood. I try to find humor in life any time I can. Yes, it may be a warped sense of humor, but it's humor. You can't take life too seriously all of the time or you won't enjoy it. To me, this was funny. It was as if these little cars were breeding, right in front of my eyes. 

Homeward bound, I figure my experience with Kiefer and their service center was over. Until next oil change, Kiefer. I immediately connected my phone and Pandora services to our baby once more. The song, Don't Worry, Be Happy" came on, giving me a great feeling about this. It's all good. 

Rounding the last corner before the three exits to home, I was filled with joy. My baby is running fine and I'm in a good, comforted mood again. I started to wrap my mind around the thought of it being three days each time before we had to call a tow truck again, but quickly rejected the negativity. 

Ah, my exit. I'm almost home. It's a good feeling to arrive safely to your destination. I flipped on the turn signal and began to exit, when suddenly, on the left side of me, came a little red Kia Soul. It flew past me and I busted up laughing. Have a good life, little buddy. Thank you for your service. 

Back home to my hubby and my fur babies. I turned to look out the door while walking the dog and saw how shiny the Sportage looked but it was a beautiful silver shine. No blinding red. Welcome home my friend. Welcome home.